Reporting Bullies Gets Easier

The Bibb County School system is giving people another way to report incidents of bullying. For the targets, parents and bystanders it’s now as easy as sending a text.

Bibb County’s telephone hotline started in August. It allows people to phone in anonymous tips about bullies. The hotline gets as many as ten calls a week.

Bibb County’s lead psychologist Steve Corkery monitors the hotline and now the text messages. He says people are asked to leave the name of the school, the bully and the target.

“It used to be bullying happened from nine to three. You know when you got to school you’d get bullied, but by three o’clock you’d be free of it. But, now with facebook and kids having phones, it’s 24 hours a day.”

Corkery says parents should monitor their kid’s phones and use of social media. In 2010 lawmakers passed a bill requiring all school systems to develop an anti-bullying policy.